Birthday Present
by The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Summary: It's Yao's birthday and Kiku has made him a very special present. But what happens when he accidentally throws it away? ChinaXJapan brotherly! T for Lovino's potty mouth. Or K ? Mutli-chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Birthday Present

Chapter One

Kiku's brown eyes were impassive as he stared at the painting of his mom, two sisters, four brothers, and himself. He drew the picture. It was for Yao's birthday and he was proud of it even though his face cared to disagree.

Yao's birthday was in twenty-four hours and the older, brown-haired Chinese teen was going to be out with his friends for most of the day.

'I have to wake up early to see him," Kiku decided and he hid the painting under his bed. 'I hope he likes it.'


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A vibrating feeling and noise woke Kiku out of his slumber. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. With an annoyed look, he began to look for the source of the noise. That's when he remembered. He reached under his pillow and brought his phone out, hitting the 'off' button on the eight o'clock alarm. He usually woke up around nine, nine thirty; therefore he needed an alarm to wake earlier.

Yao's birthday! Kiku stood, not bothering to change out of his dark, sleeping kimono, and reached under his bed. There was nothing. He reached farther in, but still nothing. Then he looked and to his surprise, nothing. He tried to remember if he moved it. Then it hit him:

_FLASHBACK_

"_Kiku! You better clean under your bed or I will!" Kiku's adoptive mother shouted._

_He made his way to his room where his mother was standing._

"_I got it," he responded, monotonously._

_She nodded and walked to the door. "I'll check it when you're finished._

_~30 minutes later~_

_A large garbage bag was sitting next to Kiku filled with paper and other junk. He looked under his bed, satisfied that there was nothing, and stood. He grabbed the bag and walked out of his room, bumping into his mother on the way._

"_I'm done," he said and proceeded to take out the garbage._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

'Oh no. No, no, no ,no, no! That was the only present I had for him!' Kiku mentally panicked, but outside, he just sat back and stared at the side of the bed.

'What am I suppose to do now? I could give him another painting, but this one took me a month! It won't be done in time!'

More emotionless staring.

'There's nothing I can do except buy him something! Too bad I don't have any money. Or I could make a card. A sloppy one… But still a card! No! Yao-_nii_ deserves better! I'm such a bad brother. Adopted or otherwise. How could I have thrown away that painting?"

And his emotionless mask cracked.

Kiku felt horrible. A shaky sob shook him and tears slid down his face. He was surprised that he was crying over something so foolish, but he couldn't help it. The tears and sobs just kept coming.

Kiku brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, burying his face in the kimono sleeves.

"_Baka, baka, baka, baka," _he chanted over and over like a mantra.

He was too busy crying and calling himself an idiot that he didn't notice the door to his room opening. He didn't even notice when the intruder sat next to him until he felt an arm put around his shoulder.

Startled, Kiku jumped and looked up, his brown eyes met a goldish-brown color that could only belong to…

"Yao-_nii_" Kiku whispered

"Why are you crying, _Di Di_, aru?" Yao asked his adopted Japanese brother, wiping away the tears.

"Yao-_nii_… _Sumimasen_, but it seems that I have lost your birthday present." Kiku's eyes filled with tears again.

On another occasion, Yao would have laughed, but he noticed that this was very important to his younger brother. He embraced Kiku. "Shh… It's okay, _Di Di_. I'm not mad, aru."

"_Iie. _It's not. I lost your present for being irresponsible. Now I'm turning into Alfred-_kun_," he sobbed into his brother's Chinese styled, red tunic.

"_Di Di_…" Yao remembered the American boy very well considering when he came over he had broken a couple of his family's possessions and indeed he was very irresponsible. "No one can exceed Alfred's irresponsible behavior, aru." He paused, thinking. "Actually, I think maybe Yong Soo can—" Kiku giggled and Yao smiled, continuing, "—but that's beside the point, aru. The point is you are not irresponsible. Everyone forgets something once in a while. I mean, it was just an accident, am I correct aru?"

"_Hai_. It was. But now I have nothing for my _Ni Ni_." He looked up at Yao, his black hair sticking up in some places. "And the present was special."

"Don't worry, aru." Yao smiled. "I'm going to be out of the house most of the day so be good, aru. Good bye, _Di Di_."

"_Sayonara, _Yao-_nii_." Kiku gave a small wave and his brother left. He stood and dried his face.

'I'm going to find that painting,' he decided and grabbed his phone. 'But I'm going to need some help.'


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

8: 15 am

08: 15

The four boys stood at the large green dumpster.

"So, what you're tellin' me is that we're gonna search in this dumpster for a painting?" Alfred asked, yawning into his hand despite the five coffees he'd snuck out of his house and drank.

Kiku nodded. "_Hai_. And those." He motioned to the recycling bins. "_Okaa-san_ and I separated the recycling and the garbage, but I don't remember coming across a painting." All four of them, Kiku, Alfred, Ludwig, and Feliciano, were where the garbage truck came and took the garbage by lifting it up and dumping it in itself. In easier terms, the dumpster. When Kiku was younger, Yao would tell him that the garbage was food for the garbage truck. Now ten-year old Kiku thought it was silly.

"The garbage truck doesn't come until tomorrow so everyone's garbage is still here," Kiku added.

"Ve~! But what if we get dirty?" Feliciano asked.

"I only brought some aprons and dishwashing gloves. _Sumimasen_." Kiku bowed in apology."

"Do not vorry, Kiku," Ludwig said in his gruff, too-deep-for-his-age voice. "Ve vill help either vay."

"Ve~!"

"Well, if we're gonna dig through all this crap, we might as well start now!" Alfred grabbed an apron and a pair of yellow gloves that Kiku dropped on the ground. "I'm not gonna be in that all day." He motioned to the dumpster which had bees and flies flying around it.

The other three agreed and put on their own apron and gloves.

"May God be with us as we search through this pile of crap that smells a lot and—Oh geez! Why am I praying?" Alfred looked at the sky which was blue and the Sun was shining brightly.

"I hope we find your painting, ve~!" Feliciano smiled happily at Kiku.

Kiku nodded. "Let the searching begin, then."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

9: 03 am

09: 03

Alfred collapsed against the dumpster, Feliciano beside him. All of them had gotten used to the smell and so it didn't bother them much, but the heat had suddenly become unbearable.

"God hates us!" Alfred moaned.

"I heard that there vas going to be a heat vafe ofer us on the news this morning," Ludwig stated. His blonde hair hung against the sides of his face, taken out of its original style because of sweat.

Feliciano was also sweating, making tired 've~!' noises every now and then.

"_Sumimasen_," Kiku apologized. "I didn't mean to keep us out here so long."

"Ve agreed to this," Ludwig said, firmly. "Ve're going to finish the job either vay because ve are friends."

"Yeah! Totally!" Alfred jumped up pumping his fist into the air. His blue eyes shined with some renewed energy. "And we'll find it 'cause I'm here and I'M THE HERO!"

Feliciano nodded. "_Sí!_ Ve~! We're all friends and we should help each other! Ve~!"

Kiku stared at his friends. "_Arigatōgozaimashita! _This means a lot to me!"

Alfred helped Feliciano up. "Let's keep lookin' then!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

6: 58 pm

18: 58

Kiku slumped down against the dumpster dejectedly. "I'm sorry for keeping you guys out all day without any food or water."

Alfred shrugged. "As Ludwig said before, we agreed to this."

"Ve~! But we didn't find the painting!" Feliciano looked around again. They had rummaged through all the garbage and recycling bags, but there was nothing.

"_Di Di!_"

"Alfred! You bloody git!"

"Feli! Get your ass out here!"

"Luddy! Where the hell did you go?"

The boys looked at each other, looked at their dirty clothes, then at each other again.

Alfred shrugged again. "It's not like we can do anythin' 'bout it now."

Everyone agreed.

"We're right here, Artie!" Alfred called to his older brother.

Kiku heard footsteps coming closer.

"Don't call me that, you git!" Arthur was first to be seen. His blonde hair was messy as always and his green eyes stood out against his pale features as much as his gigantic eyebrows did. He was wearing a skin tight shirt with the U. K. flag on it and black skinny jeans with tears in it. He wore knee high boots and a chain that hung off his pants. His ears and lips were pierced as was his nose. And when he talked, Kiku could see his tongue was as well.

After him came Ludwig's 'Prussian'-because-he-was-to-awesome-to-be-German albino brother, Gilbert. He was dressed almost as punkish as Arthur, but more toned down. He wore a dark shirt and dark pants complementing his white hair and pale skin. He also wore converse and only his right ear was pierced. Both of the German—Prussian-German –brothers wore matching crosses and Gilbert wore his proudly.

Then came Feliciano's brother, Lovino. He really hates Ludwig and Gilbert. He was wearing a simple white and jeans with black Osiris. And he looked really mad. His brown hair hung on the sides of his face neatly. Only a small curl seemed to disobey. If Feliciano were older, he and Lovino would be twins. Lovino's green eyes flashed when he noticed Ludwig.

'I wonder why he hates him so much," Kiku wondered.

And last came Yao. He wore what he had been wearing when he went into Kiku's room, a red, Chinese tunic, white pants and brown sandals. His brown hair was tied in a ponytail that lied limply over his left shoulder. His gold-brown eyes shone with worry.

When they noticed the dirty clothe of their younger brothers they stopped.

"Alfred," Arthur began, his voice seemed to be just barely controlled. "Care to explain to me why you're all dirty?"

"Heh… Well, ya see… Kiku threw something away that was really important and since we're all friends, we came to help 'im look."

Arthur sighed. Honestly, he wasn't mad, just a little bit annoyed at being pulled away from the bar to get the git. His mother had worried herself to her death bed when Alfred wasn't home at four. "Stop butchering the Queen's English. Did you find it?"

"No."

"I'm sorry, Kiku, but I really have to take Alfred home now." Arthur turned to Kiku.

"It's all right. I apologize for keeping him out so late." Kiku bowed.

Arthur nodded. "It's fine. Now, come along Alfred." He began to walk away.

"Bye Kiku, Ludwig, Ciano! I hope you find the special thing, Kiku!" He wiggled his eyebrows then turned and ran to catch up with his brother.

"Bye Alfred (-_kun)_!" the three other called.

"Why are you with the potato-bastard?" Lovino asked his younger brother, glaring daggers at Ludwig. The blonde German just stared back.

"You mean Luddy?" Feliciano asked, cocking his head to the side. His brown curl bounced.

"Yeah. I don't see another potato-bastard here that's your age," Lovino snapped.

"Oh, but Lovi~! Luddy's my friend! Ve~!"

"Come here. We're going home. Erm… I hope you find what belongs to you, Kiku." He looked at the small-for-his-age Japanese boy.

"_Arigatō _Lovino-_san_," Kiku said.

"Bye Luddy!" Feliciano hugged Ludwig, who blushed and hugged back.

"Bye Feli," he grunted.

"Bye Kiku!" The Italian boy then hugged Kiku and grabbed his brother's hand.

"Bye Feliciano-_kun_."

"Tch." Lovino looked at his brother disaproovingly. "You smell like garbage."

"Ve~! _Fratello!_ I was in a dumpster all day!"

Lovino 'tch'd' again and they walked away.

"Alright, Lud! Let's go home and spend some quality time vith your awesome _Bruder_!" Gilbert came forward and snatched up his brother as he was about to run.

Ludwig kneed him in the stomach and Gilbert dropped him, holding his stomach. "I am ten years old, _Bruder_. I don't need to be carried.

A flash of hurt crossed Gilbert's features as he straightened himself up. Then it was gone. Ludwig must have noticed too because he grabbed Gilbert's hand. "Let's go home, Gil."

"All right." Gilbert smiled and ruffled his brother's blonde hair. "_Auf Widersehen_, Kiku, Yao."

Ludwig echoed.

"Good bye," the two Asians said.

When they turned at the corner of the street, Yao turned around to Kiku. There was anger in his eyes. "Do you have any idea how worried everyone is right now, aru?"

Kiku flinched then shook his head.

"No? Of course you don't. All this because of a stupid painting, aru."

Kiku opened his mouth to tell Yao the painting wasn't stupid but then stopped. "_Ni Ni?"_

"What?"

"When did I tell you your present was a painting?"

Yao opened his mouth, then closed it. "Um…?"

Kiku stared at his brother struggle for an answer.

"Eh… I don't know, aru… You might have mentioned it…" Yao didn't meet his brother's eyes.

"Yao-_nii_? Did you see the painting before I threw it out?" Kiku stepped closer to Yao, trying to get him to look into his eyes.

There was a long moment of silence. Then Yao said, "_Di Di_, I took the painting before you and _Mama_ threw it away, aru When I saw my name on it I took it. I hadn't opened until early in the morning, aru. I swear, aru"

Kiku was not amused. "And you made me look through half the garbage of this street? Why didn't you tell me?

Yao rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly. "I didn't know you would look through the dumpster for it, aru."

"You knew it was important to me."

"I'm sorry, aru. Really I am!"

Kiku looked at his brother for a second. "Because it's your birthday."

Yao had relief written all over his face. "All right. Let's go home." He opened his arms and Kiku ran into them. Yao picked him up and Kiku locked his legs around his brother's feminine waist.

"Kiku?"

"_Hai?"_

"It was beautiful. I loved it, aru."

Kiku knew he was referring to the painting. He smiled into Yao's neck. "I'm glad you liked it. Happy birthday, _Ni Ni."_


End file.
